Video
games are a huge business and one of the most popular genres in the
market are first person shooters. These games generate billions of
dollars each year for the video game industry and have sparked harsh
criticism at times because of the violent content of the games.

The
latest game to come under fire is the upcoming shooter from EA called
Medal
of Honor.
Surprisingly, the game hasn't come under fire from the typical groups
that oppose violent video games, but the U.S.
military.

Kotaku reports
that the Army and Air Force Exchange Services has confirmed to it
that they have demanded that the upcoming Medal
of Honor
game to be pulled
from the 49 different GameStop
locations that
are located on army bases within America. The ban also extends to all
stores selling the game on military Post Exchanges [PXs] globally.
The reason the game has been withdrawn from PX shelves is that the
multiplayer aspect of the game allow players to play as Taliban
fighters.

An email from GameStop Kotaku
received states:

GameStop
has agreed out of respect for our past and present men and women in
uniform we will not carry Medal of Honor in any of our AAFES based
stores... As such, GameStop agreed to have all marketing material
pulled by noon today and to stop taking reservations. Customers who
enter our AAFES stores and wish to reserve Medal of Honor can and
should be directed to the nearest GameStop location off base.
GameStop fully supports AAFES in this endeavor and is sensitive to
the fact that in multiplayer mode one side will assume the role of
Taliban fighter.

Apparently,
the game is not banned from play by military personnel and is not
banned from the base altogether; the game simply isn’t allowed to
be sold on base. Military personnel can buy it off base and play it
at the base. There has been no official comment by EA on the issue so
far.

Another
first person shooter franchise set to get a new installment soon is
Call
of Duty
with Activision putting the largest
marketing campaign it has ever undertaken behind the new
title in the franchise called Black
Ops.

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

It always irks me to see some rant about "they are protecting our freedom and blah blah" from someone who has clearly never served in the US Military.

Those that have served know what the UCMJ is and the additional restrictions it places on your freedoms. We've no problem with it and I for one don't mind it when our military commanders make a decision that is in the best interest of our military as a whole.

This issue with the game is about the honorable and *professional* image of our US military (as opposed to a bunch of collateral damage inducing nutbag rambos). Service members are still allowed to buy the game if they wish. This is nothing more than a discouragement from command.

And this...wtf..

quote: They lose sight of values and focus on command.

Their values ARE to focus on command. Freedom is not the priority in the military. Freedom stops when the mission begins, then resumes when it's over.

Go try to use your 1st amendment free speech at will under article 134 and see what happens.

How can this be that rights are stripped? Easy. Military service members *volunteer* to have them stripped. You are guaranteed rights under the constitution but you are welcome to give them up at any time. Military members do so when they join and agree to be bound by the UCMJ.